Adolescence & its Negative Affect
“Early adolescence hit him especially hard, scrambling his face into nothing you could call cute,… couldn’t make friends for the life of him, too dorky, too shy, and too weird.” (page16-17)
In this sentence, Junot Diaz is describing the drastic change the protagonist, Oscar Wao, goes through. He talks about how Oscar got fat and develops a face full of zits. His confidence drops and he doesn’t kiss or speak to a girl in the longest time. Girls would avoid him and find him disgusting. Diaz uses the words “hit him especially hard” to emphasis the affect adolescence and puberty had on him. He goes on to talk about the physical change in appearance, as well as the personality change. Oscar becomes an introvert with this low level of self-esteem. The concept of puberty is incorporated a lot in the beginning of the novel. Diaz also talks about how Olga and Maritza have grown and changed with puberty. This sentence is incorporated and relevant to the text as a whole because this change with adolescence is the reason Oscar’s life becomes what it is. He has difficulty with girls and love because of his appearance. He doesn’t really make friends, and his confidence level drops drastically. This change affects the rest of his life.